is a 250 watt 14k too much for a 29g cube????

rkonicek

rkonicek

New Member
Hey Gang,
I've had a 29 gallon biocube for the past 4 years and have been having a lot fun with the hobby. I recently decided to make the jump towards better lighting (which as we all known takes a lot of research)
I may have been mislead during the research process. I came across a brand new coral life 24 inch dual actinic 250 watt metal halide fixture from a local fish store (only for $190). I mounted the light above the tank and now i fear that the 250 watt is wayyyyyy overkill on the tank....within the first day i noticed some of the coral starting to bleach...when i noticed it i turned the light off right away and now i only have the actinics running
I have the fixture mounted about 4 inches above the tank...the water doesn't get hot or anything either
What should i do? Return the fixture and replace with a less powerful unit? please help!
 
geoj

geoj

Active Member
I have run a 25g mixed reef with a 250w MH so it can be done you just need to remember some of the corals that have medium light requirements are not going to look as good and will try to turn away from the light. So really you can keep the light if you are keeping the correct corals... You may have stressed the corals that bleached by not light acclimating them to the higher intensity.
 
rkonicek

rkonicek

New Member
Good call on light acclimation. I'm going to raise my light by about 9 inches as well to help with the acclimation....I'll post before and after pics
thanks for the help...if anyone else has any other ideas please let me know!
 
nikesb

nikesb

Active Member
you will need more than 9". i would start at 18" and work your way down. what kind of reflector is it?
 
rkonicek

rkonicek

New Member
It's an aqualight pro by coral life
Here is a link to it
http://www.aquacon.com/CoralifeAqualightPro.html
Hopefully that'll help out.....it's a $600 system but i got it from my friend who is a dealer for $190....
Thoughts on how to raise it?
 
rkonicek

rkonicek

New Member
Hey!...great success with the tank....i mounted it like the reference you gave to me with a couple of my own tweeks to make it easier on myself....i also built a cool box.....i have an awesome final product that i want to show you but it won't let me add a pic for some reason...it keeps saying "temporary issues"
 
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